The views of a long time baseball fan who is totally blind, will cover a wide range of subjects, including my upcoming 30 ballpark, 30 day tour.

Results tagged ‘ San Diego Padres ’

Happy Valentine’s Baseball lovers. Tonight is the second half of the current season of “The Walking Dead” and while it is far from my type of entertainment, I’m personally all too familiar with the storylines because my wife like so many American’s finds it more interesting than politics, the news, or other more pressing subjects. So much of what is presented at least in the view of this writer is an overhyped and overblown focus on a postapocalyptical world where everything has been destroyed by some horrible event, be it man made or nature’s doing or some out of world alien/zombie created circumstance and the few survivors fight for what is left in a tribal like society.

What I present may seem a tad apocalyptical but based on past baseball history and current trends, it could become a stark reality that dramatically alters the sports and baseball landscape over the next 20-40 years. God willing, I’ll still be alive at age 82 in 2056 with spring training upon us, but will baseball look anything like it does today, will any major sports league? Below, I present some of the potential pitfalls that await MLB and its pro sports partners in the NFL, NBA and NHL, and the question is, what will they do to prepare for the end of the sports world as they know it?

Walkers are coming from all around to eat up the sports landscape. From the west, a group of walkers is carrying signs that state in very harsh language that government funding is dead, sports leagues must make it on their own. The owners are running in circles with no idea how to resolve this conflict. They don’t want to admit that society finally grew tired of their endless begging for corporate welfare, which asked for public money to build new stadiums and arenas to replace the ones that were built just 15-30 years ago. The last round of the sports building boom, everyone was told that to compete and field a winning team, the club had to have the latest, greatest state of the art facility. Build it, we win championships and contend every year for the opportunity to win more. Don’t build it, we leave. NO one stopped and realized, there are 30 teams in MLB, so if every team won just one single championship, it would take 30 years for every team to get its title, meaning it was nearly a stone cold lock that several MLB teams would not see a championship and might not even make it to the World Series during the same 30 year or shorter term for said stadium lease. The White Sox, Giants, Astros, Padres, Marlins, Rays, Athletics, Twins, Pirates, Mariners, all made the I’m leaving threat in baseball and the Expos eventually did leave. IN the NFL, the Rams have made good on the threat twice, the chargers and Raiders both could potentially join the Rams on that have done it twice list, while the Saints, Jaguars, Colts, Bills, Vikings, Seahawks, and buccaneers, have had or are currently making the same threat to government officials, while the Colts and Cardinals, and old Houston Oilers made good on the threat. IN the NBA, the Kings and Bucks are the latest teams to make the threat and get a new building, those two had brand new arenas in 1988, while the Hornets, Heat, and Magic which all got new buildings at the same time as new expansion teams all have since moved into new buildings that replaced those original new homes. The Grizzlies had a new home in 1995 and moved six years later, getting a second new building in 2004, while the Supersonics moved and became the Thunder in 2008. Similar arena threats were put out by the Rockets, Spurs, and pacers that got new buildings put up between 1999 and 2003, while other multiple sports cities, Dallas, Denver, and Chicago opened new facilities between 1994 and 2001. IN the case of Dallas, the new arena was replacing a building just 21 years of age that now no longer exists, Reunion Arena. Miami may be the most gross case here, because the new Miami arena that opened in 1988 was used to get both the expansion Heat in the NBA that year and the Panthers NHL team in 1993. It was built specifically for both sports. Yet by 1996 both teams were asking for new buildings, they each got one that they call home, the Panthers in 1998, the Heat a year later. The original Miami Arena was used sparingly until it was brought down less than 20 years before its first NBA game. Meanwhile, in the NHL, the Senators want a new arena, the current facility this 1992 Ottawa expansion franchise called home opened in 1996. The Red wings are getting a new building of their own, largely paid for by local public dollars in a city and state that is bleeding red ink, even though the owner could easily spend enough of his money to build the whole thing and still have billions left over. Talk about welfare, but of course when it is the owner of Little Caesar’s Pizza, the Tigers and Red Wings, that is somehow OK, but it is horrible when we give well fare to a 19 year old pregnant girl who is on her own with no family to turn too? Every arena used by NBA and NHL teams today not named Madison Square Garden and Oracle Arena is younger than Jennifer Hudson, younger than Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira. Remember the Warriors are getting a new building unless things fall apart in San Francisco, scheduled to open by 2018. Only six MLB stadiums are older, Wrigley which is getting remodeled, Fenway which has had upgrades, Kaufman which received a new round of upgrades on the public tab in 2006, Dodger Stadium and yes, that ballpark urrrr stadium in Oakland; Angel Stadium went through a pair of major upgrades, one to add football in 1979 and one to undo that change and update the baseball only feel in 1997. IN the NFL, the only older venues that predate Jennifer and Mark are Lambeau Field and Soldier Field (both which had a major makeover and upgrade in 2002-03), Arrowhead Stadium, Rich Stadium, that stadium again in Oakland, the temporary home the Rams are moving to at Los Angeles Coliseum which had no NFL team since the Raiders left in 1995, QUALCOMM Stadium in San Diego and the new Orleans Super Dome which has had its share of upgrades and repairs. The Falcons like several NBA teams got a new facility that opened the year Bill Clinton was elected to his first term in office, only to have it torn down potentially in the first year of another Clinton administration 25 years later in 2017. The Dolphins again as we point fingers at greater Miami moved to a facility built in 1987 for them and to get what would become the marlins. Almost immediately, the Marlins wanted out when it rained too much before baseball games to keep fans coming, hey Miami has always been that way, and now the Dolphins want upgrades or a new facility.

How do owners then fund new palaces to play in you ask? Well that depends on where else they can reach out with buckets in hand begging for private money to build the new stadiums. The public money is all gone, being used to build much more needed and much more outdated public works items such as electrical grids, water and sewer lines, replacing old gas pipes that keep exploding, and upgrading the telecommunications utilities. But there is another problem, walkers coming from the east, with signs featuring more stark language. Your cable TV money is gone, never to return. Here, we see another problem that takes us back in time while also developing on the horizon like a hurricane 1000 miles out in the Atlantic. We know damage could be done, we don’t know where or to what extent, but we know it is coming. IN this case, let’s think back to 1988 and the announcement that CBS had paid massive media rights fees to MLB. Teams were spending money on players left and right with this new found wealth of TV dollars. Yet in 1994, that CBS deal was gone and the new package was not nearly as lush with free greenbacks. Since MLB is not the treasury, it could not issue its own money and had to cut back. Baseball’s best season was ruined by a player strike, but the owners had just as much to do with it. Instead of using some of that TV money to build and update stadiums, owners bid against themselves and overpaid players, then begged for a salary cap to keep their fellow owners from spending too much on player contracts. We all know how that ended. But now fast forward to 2016, many teams have recently entered into or are just now starting new TV contracts with massive payouts from regional sports networks that are operated by and owned by divisions of the major cable and satellite TV companies. ESPN, Fox and TBS also are in the middle of huge contracts that pay very high rights fees to MLB through the 2021 season. But by 2021, it could be painfully apparent that baseball will need to come up with new revenue sources. The problem is simple, many people especially younger folks are ditching cable and satellite TV for on demand internet programming and who can blame them, a new trend known as chord cutting. Our own Time Warner bill has gone up almost 25 dollars in the last year, most of that in extra fees including a 6 dollar sports channel use fee. TWC and the other providers like Comcast, DirecTV and Dish will say that ESPN is to blame because of the high fees it demands for carriage over these systems. That has some truth to it, but look at how much money these same cable companies have sank into local TV rights contracts for teams in MLB< the NBA and NHL. The NFL largely dodges this issue because most of its games are still on over the air TV, something that is almost unheard of these days with the other leagues. This also does not even take into consideration the huge amount of money promised to college athletics, mainly in the form of NCAA football and men’s basketball at the division I level, viewed by many including myself as nothing more than university sponsored minor leagues. As more and more customers drop 180 to 200 dollar a month cable bills for on demand internet programs where they are purchasing only the programming they want to see, it forces the cable folks to raise rates. That bubble is about to pop like an overblown helium balloon and when it does pop, the sports leagues could find themselves being short changed because future promised dollars that were coming are suddenly now evaporating in the smoke and dust that is left behind by the burning down of the cable and satellite TV industry as we know it today.
Walkers are coming from the north and south too. From the north, they carry signs from entitled players who want even larger salary figures from owners who no longer have public welfare and no private money in hand to spend. The southern flank carry signs representing fans who are revolting against ticket prices that are increasing at many times the rate of working wages, fans who are tired of overpriced food and drinks provided by third party venders that do not follow food safety requirements in several instances. Minimum wage was $4.25 in 1993, it is now $7.25 in most locations. Yet $4.25 in 1992 will cost you more like $9 in today’s market for the same goods.

So the fans won’t buy tickets, the players are demanding money that is not there because the cable contracts are dead and worthless sheets of legal paper, while the government bonds have expired and no public official worth his or her weight in is coming through that door with as much as a dime of free goodies. This could happen and when it does, how do the pro leagues respond, and how does baseball in particular adapt to this very possible future reality?

I don’t have all of the solutions, but here are a couple. First, MLB should realize that the way fans are going to consume sports is changing and they will not be able to rely on passing this service fee on to the backs of many people who will never watch a game on television, much less attend a game in a stadium. MLB must come up with other revenue from the broadcast of game events. How you do this in part would be to make every single game you broadcast on TV and radio available worldwide to anyone online, no matter what. The audio service largely already accomplishes this and the MLBTV product should follow suit. Make that service available to any fan who wants to see any game, any team, anywhere. Already class action has forced MLB to sell an individual team package for out of market games, but this out of market concept is outdated and frankly it should have been terminated 15 years ago. MLB should have a very basic process here, no matter the fan, no matter where in the world you are geographically. Want to get the audio only package, sell it on a monthly or season long basis, sell it also on a per team or whole league type of package. So, I can get all MLB games for a month at a time, one team for the entire season, or all MLB games for the entire season. The same concept naturally would be true for those who upgrade to the video streaming service.

MLB should also hire broadcasters to cover games in other foreign languages. Many teams already have Spanish announcers, but hire a few MLB controlled broadcast teams who can do games in various popular languages around the world. While these announcers would not be able to cover all 2430 regular season games, they could cover 5-7 games a week, with all teams being offered throughout the season. Imagine if on any given day, you could find a couple games with an option in French, or German, or Chinese, Etc. These foreign language products would be streamed anywhere in the world, including to US based customers with a 30 day free intro to get fans interested. Teach them about the game if you will, then if they get hooked and fall in love, they can by a subscription. Similar audio broadcasts in various languages should also be made available via streaming services and if in languages that are in parts of the world with less internet traffic, dedicate a shortwave or related radio broadcast service specifically for this purpose.

Second, find ways to make the stadium into a year round money generating facility. Stadiums would become better public works investments if they were used more than 80 some odd times a season. MLB teams should find ways to book events at stadiums on all possible dates outside the baseball season and during the season, allow various events to take place at the facility on all dates not used for baseball, accept the day prior to a team returning home from a long road trip when the facility needs to be prepared for the next home games on the schedule. With more and more teams creating social zones in stadiums, those could all be rented out for big events and receptions on a very regular basis. I think the future here is interesting, as I could see a day where seats as we know it are no longer sold, with fans instead buying tickets to various zones within a ballpark and having areas to move around in, while using more restaurant style seating with tables and movable seating that allow for folks to face the field of play if using such setups on game days. Plus here is a big leap of Sheldon Cooper sarcasm, host more baseball games. Schedule the big state high school tournament during certain seasons at your stadium, bring college teams in on a regular basis for more than just the single weekend tournament and have events at the stadium on those open dates that are baseball related that get the community involved with one another. Have showcase events for international prospects, have baseball combine style events prior to the draft, and other events that promote baseball’s future talent, but do so in MLB stadiums where you can draw in MLB crowds. Imagine, you sell 30 thousand seats at 15 bucks a pop for any seat in the stadium and charge 5 dollars for parking, you know, minor league rates back in the day and you have made 450K just in ticket sales for that one event. For the stadiums as we know them to become true profit machines and thus to view them as investments or properties that have value, they must be living breathing spaces that are regularly active throughout the calendar year. We would never see funding for office buildings that were open only on Monday and Tuesday, or about 100 days in the year, which is even more than we see for actual game day events in MLB, even when postseason is accounted for. The numbers are certainly much worse in terms of usage dates for the NFL which has a max of about 12 in any given season, while the numbers for NHL and NBA arenas are about a max of 58 dates if a team played all the way to the finals, since no team plays the max 7 games in all four series. Even and arena that is home to both an NBA and NHL team gets a max of fewer than 120 usage dates during the year.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that things will probably not unfold in exactly the way that my imagination is presenting here. But the issues I have laid out on electronic paper here could very well take baseball and sports as we know it into new directions that require very difficult decisions and it will require creative solutions by power brokers who are used to getting everything the way they want it. All in the baseball and sports industry will need to be willing to make some real sacrifices and change how they think today, or risk forever destroying the very games we love in the future when resources have dried up and the league as currently funded becomes a bankrupt hulking mass of debt with empty decaying buildings that are home to no games, no fans, and no joy.

Spring training 2016 is coming upon us and one month from today, the first teams begin reporting for pitcher and catcher workouts in Florida and Arizona. As fun and relaxing spring training is for the many fans who make the journey to warm climates for spring ball, another tradition is the many games that are played between MLB teams at unique venues that do not normally host MLB games. Teams face one another in larger minor league ballparks, in international settings such as Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and in large multipurpose stadiums that could be temporary baseball venues for a city trying to show itself as a candidate for a potential MLB expansion or franchise relocation.

Typically, the final weekend of the exhibition season features about a 50-50 split of games played in traditional spring training venues and games played at sites outside Florida and Arizona. I propose a one-time unique form of baseball outreach for 2017, where all teams play outside Florida and Arizona on the final Friday and Saturday of spring training. March 31-April 1 of 2017 assuming the scheduling model remains as is would be those dates. NO games are played April 2 and it is likely six teams will have a regular season opener that Sunday if MLB finds that the 2016 triple header is a big success. So here is my proposal.

First, the traditional games, Dodgers v Angels, Giants V Athletics which have been made a bit less meaningful with interleague play, would still be scheduled as Wednesday and Thursday exhibitions, one at each ballpark.

The following matchups would all take place Friday March 31 and Saturday April 1, 2017. The Padres top two minor league clubs are in El Paso and San Antonio, while the Dodgers used to be a long time San Antonio affiliate. So the dodgers and Padres would face one another, Friday in San Antonio at the Alamodome, Saturday at El Paso. The Rangers and Astros would also face one another going in the opposite direction, Friday at El Paso and Saturday in the San Antonio Alamodome, as they did in 2014. Houston also played an El Paso exhibition against the Brewers in 1997.

The marlins and Rays would play a pair of games at the 55,000 seat stadium in Havana, Cuba, while another international matchup would take place in Montreal as the Blue jays play another pair of games, this time the opposition would be the New York Yankees. Keeping with the international theme of the moment, the Diamondbacks would face the Angels for two games at Monterey, Mexico. Other matchups, the Giants would face the Mariners for a pair of games in Sacramento, while the Rockies and Athletics play at Salt Lake City. The Nationals and Orioles would meet in Norfolk, the Pirates and Phillies at Redding, Pennsylvania and the Cardinals would meet the Royals in Springfield, Missouri. Indianapolis would get two games between the White Sox and Cubs, The Reds and Indians would play in Louisville, while the Braves would face the Twins in Charlotte. The new ballpark in Hartford, Connecticut though not affiliated with either of these teams would play host to a matchup between the Red sox and Mets, and Toledo Ohio would be host to the matchup between the Brewers and Tigers.

As we awake this morning on June 30, we are now in terms of the calendar at the midpoint on the baseball schedule or very close to that point for all teams. So for fun, let’s look at the standings on this very calendar day of Monday June 30 from the three prior seasons that also were at this same point on the schedule for this very date and examine how predictive those standings were in identifying those teams that would go to postseason. The three seasons which are identical in terms of the baseball schedule and yes to the calendar are 1997, 2003, and 2008. Interestingly, the Marlins had success in all three of those seasons and they have been a mild surprise this season as they were in 2008 and 2003. It is not so likely though that a Florida team will be in a World Series this season unlike the Marlins of 1997 and 2003 and the 2008 Rays.

In 1997, the Orioles, Indians, Mariners, Braves, Astros and Giants claimed the division titles, while the Yankees and marlins were the Wild Card teams. Had a second Wild Card been added in ’97, the 84-78 Angels would have played at New York against the 96-66 Yankees, while the 86-75 Indians rested as AL Central champs. The NL would have been even wilder as the Mets and Dodgers were both 88-74 and they would have had to play a game to decide who would then play another elimination game at the 92-70 Marlins, all teams with better marks than the 84-78 Astros that claimed the NL Central crown.

As for the standings on the morning of June 30, the Orioles lead the Yankees by 5.5 in the AL East, they ultimately would go wire-to-wire but only win the division by 2 games over New York. The Indians held a 1 game lead on the White Sox in the AL Central and the Brewers were 3 back at 37-39. It would be September before Cleveland had enough separation and they ultimately won the division by 6. The Mariners lead the angels by 5.5 in the Al West and they ultimately won the division by 6. The NL East was very competitive, the Braves lead the Marlins by 4.5, the Mets by 6.5 and the Expos by 7.5. Montreal would fall back after the All Star break and though the Mets and Marlins would eventually lose ground with Atlanta winning by 9 games over Florida, those teams along with the Dodgers would contend for a Wild Card into September before the marlins pulled far enough away. The NL Central was the joke of the league, Houston at 40-41 had a 1 game lead on the Cardinals and 3 on the Pirates. Houston’s struggles and Pittsburgh hanging near .500 most of the season would ultimately make the Pirates the largest threat to the Astros who would finally claim a weak division the season’s final Thursday. Meanwhile, the Giants had a 4.5 game lead on the Rockies in the NL West and the Dodgers trailed by 7. Ultimately Los Angeles would get to within 2 by seasons end, the Rockies would finish 7 back. As for the Wild Card races, the Yankees had a 4.5 game lead on the Angels which would end up at 12 by seasons end while the Marlins had a lead of 2 over the Mets and 3 over Montreal, ultimately they would finish 4 ahead of the Mets and Dodgers, the Expos would slip 11 games further behind the Marlins over the second half. IN 1997 as it would turn out, the 8 teams in the lead all would end the season that way and in fact, the only change would have been for the second Wild Card berth in the NL if it existed, as the Dodgers would have pulled even with the Mets, overcoming the Expos by a wide margin.

Moving forward six years to 2003, the ultimate division winners that season were the Yankees, Twins, Athletics, Braves, Cubs and Giants. The Red Sox and Marlins would claim wild Card births. Had second Wild Card teams existed in ’03, the Red Sox heart break in game 7 against the Yankees may have not even occurred because they would have hosted the Mariners at Fenway, Seattle was 93-69 and just a pair of games behind Boston. Meanwhile in the NL, the Marlins at 91-71 would have hosted the 87-75 Astros and the Phillies at 86-76 would have missed that second spot by a single game in their final season at the Vet.

As for the standings on the morning of June 30, the Yankees held a 3.5 game lead over the Red Sox that would end up at 6 in the AL East. IN the Al Central, the Twins and Royals were in a tie six games over .500, Minnesota had two more games played and thus on percentage points they were listed as the first place team. The White sox were 4.5 back and ultimately Minnesota would edge Chicago by 4 and KC which stayed in the race would finished 7 games out. The AL West was a different story as the Mariners held a 6 game lead on the Athletics on this date. Seattle was 52-28, they would play exactly .500 the rest of the way and ultimately finish 3 behind Oakland in the division and 2 behind Boston in the Wild Card. Seattle in fact on this date had the best record in baseball, though the Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics, Braves and Giants would all end up better than Seattle three months later. The Braves would hold a 6.5 game lead over the Phillies in the NL East, the Expos were 7 back and the marlins were 12 back and a game under .500. Ultimately Atlanta won the division by 10 over the Marlins, the team with the second best second half in baseball. The Cardinals would hold the NL Central lead at 43-37, they would end up finishing in third 3 behind the Cubs. The Cubs on June 30 were a game behind St. Louis and the Houston Astros trailed by 1.5, all would hold the division lead at various points into September before the Cubs won out. The Giants held a 3 game lead on the Dodgers in the NL West, San Francisco would ultimately get on a second half roll and cruise to a 15.5 game lead.

The Wild Card races would look completely different from June 30 to the end of the season. The Red Sox lead the Athletics by a game and the Blue Jays by 2 on June 30, Toronto would finish 9 games behind Boston and Oakland would actually finish a game ahead of the Red Sox and take a division title, Boston would get in because of the Seattle clubs going cold. The Phillies would have the NL Wild Card lead on June 30 which they shared with the Dodgers and the surprising Expos in their second to last season in Montreal were only a half game off the pace. The Marlins of course would ultimately come from nowhere to claim that spot, they were in the bottom half of the race among all NL teams on June 30 5.5 games out, but went 50-29 the rest of the way and ultimately took the World Series as they had six years before.

Unlike in 1997, 2003 would not be as predictive as on June 30, teams leading the AL West and NL Central would miss postseason all together, the AL Central which was tied would see the Twins outperform the Royals in the second half and the NL Wild Card race would look completely different when the ’03 season had concluded.

We now move forward another five years to 2008, a season that saw a lot of change from what had been the norm. The Rays came out of nowhere to claim the first franchises division title, joining the white Sox who won in a division playoff game with the Twins, as well as the Angels, Phillies, Cubs and Dodgers as division champions. The Red Sox and Brewers would be wild card teams and it would mark Milwaukee’s first postseason visit since 1982. The Brewers would hold off the Mets who had a legendary fall the final two weeks of the season and it marked a great collapse the final weeks of the season for a second straight year in New York. If a second Wild Card existed, the Mets would have claimed it in the NL and yes the Yankees would have done so in the AL and in Yankee Stadium II’s final season, the Wild Card game would have been Yankees at Red Sox, while the Mets would have played the Brewers and the Twins and White Sox had that AL Central playoff as both finished game 162 a single game behind New York.
As for those June 30 standings in 2008, the Rays held a half game lead on the Red Sox in the AL East. Tampa would win by 2 though they had the lead as high as 7 games and they would clinch the division with 8 days to go in the 2008 season. The Yankees who were 5.5 out would close to within 3 but ultimately they would finish 8 back. Baltimore which was 42-39 and just 7 out on June 30 would have a horrible second half and not even win 70 games while Toronto at just 40-43 would have a good second half and if additional wild card births existed, the Jays would have been in a battle with the Yankees as the season concluded along with the Twins and White Sox for that slot. IN the AL Central, the White Sox lead the Twins by a game and unlike in 2003, the very tight standings would in deed hold true to the very end. The Tigers were just 4.5 back but they had a rough second half and finished 14 back and in last place. The Angels lead the AL West by 4.5 over Oakland, the Athletics would have a horrible second half and the Angels would cruise to a 21 game lead over second place Texas when it was all said and done. The Rangers were already sliding and 7.5 out on June 30.

For all the struggles of the Mets in 2008 in closing out the season on a good note, they were just a very average team on June 30. The Phillies in fact had the division lead at 44-39 and a game back at 42-39 were the surprising Marlins. The Mets at 40-41 were in third 3 off the lead and the Braves were only 4 games out. The Cubs were showing they were one of the best teams in baseball as they were 49-33 and well on their way in the NL Central. The Cardinals and Brewers were in the race, St. Louis second 2.5 back and Milwaukee third 4.5 out. The Brewers would stay hot the second half, but the Cardinals would slide and the Astros would come from nowhere to make a very interesting contender for the wild Card. Houston was just 39-43, they would get very hot in August and early September before things came apart when hurricane Ike arrived. The Diamondbacks at just 41-41 lead the NL West, the Dodgers 2.5 back were the only contender, though the Rockies who were just 32-50 would play better in the second half and begin to make some wonder if an even more amazing repeat of 2007 was in order.

The Wild Card races on June 30 saw the Red Sox leading the Twins by 4, Athletics by 4.5 and Yankees by 5 games in the AL, while in the NL the Cardinals lead the way, Milwaukee at 2 and Philadelphia at 3 out were next, while the Marlins at 4 back, Mets 6 and Astros 8.5 would all become second half factors.

Ultimately, the teams that had division leads on June 30 accept the Diamondbacks would end up advancing to post season, though for the White Sox and Phillies, a lot of doubt existed along the second half route. Boston would get the Wild Card which it lead, but the Cardinals would be the team ultimately let down in the NL. The Dodgers played well enough in the second half to overtake Arizona by two, though the NL Wild Card contenders all had better records. Just how different was the NL in the second half you ask? The Cardinals were just 39-40 and the Brewers at 45-36 were good enough to get the wild Card berth, though the 49-32 Mets and 47-32 Astros certainly made things very interesting.

So overall during those three previous seasons, 15 of 18 division leaders would get to post season, the ’03 Mariners, ’03 Cardinals and ’08 Diamondbacks would not. Among the six Wild Cards, the AL leader advanced to post season each time, but in the NL, only the Marlins of 1997 were so fortunate as the ’03 Phillies and ’08 Cardinals were overtaken. Philadelphia would have been the second Wild Card team in 2003, St. Louis would still have missed all together in 2008.

On this morning of June 30 in 2014, the blue Jays lead the Orioles by 1.5 in the AL East, though both are not playing as well of late. Do the Yankees at 2 back or Red Sox at 6 back come through in the second half? All teams that won division titles on this date in the seasons reviewed were no worse than second in the division, though Oakland was in terms of games played 6 off the pace where the Red Sox are now when they came back in 2003. Amazingly, the Rays are 10 back and they have played a bit better of late. But the odds of a team that is 14 under .500 going 24 to 30 over in the second half and finishing 10 to 16 over are very long. Interestingly, this is the first time since 1993 that the Yankees and Red Sox would both be out of the playoffs on this date. The Tigers lead the Royals by 3.5 in the AL Central. KC has played much better since May 28 and Detroit has been a streaky team in both directions this season. The AL Central has provided several dramatic finishes when teams are 10 or fewer games over .500 at this point, so are we looking at another 2008? If anything is likely a guarantee at this point, it is that the Athletics at 51-30 will win the AL West or at least get into postseason play. The Angels show signs of cooling off a bit and they now trail by 5.5, the mariners continue to hang in at 7.5 off the pace. Does Seattle’s offensive troubles come back to pass in the second half, how about the Angels pitching? The wild Card race in the AL is rather remarkable, the Angels are leading and they are followed by a bunch of teams in play for that second birth that now exists. The Mariners currently claim that position, while the Royals and Orioles are 1.5 back, the Yankees are just 2 out and teams under .500 are very much alive, the Indians the closest at 5.5 out.

Over in the NL, the Braves and Nationals appear to be in place for a great NL East race as the 44-38 Braves and 43-38 Nationals are a half game apart. The Marlins though now under .500 are still just 5 out but they are showing signs of fading. The Brewers just keep on winning in the NL Central and they are now 6.5 games ahead of everyone else and out in the NL West, the Giants and Dodgers are now in a dog fight but the rest of the division is so bad that while these two rivals are just 10 over .500, the closest teams are 10 under .500 and 10 games off the lead. The drama may very well be held in the NL’s second wild Card slot this season. If the Giants and Dodgers keep playing well, one of them will almost for sure get a wild Card and the same could be said of the Braves and nationals, though both are not appearing to be as solid as their western counterparts. This morning, the Nationals, Reds and Cardinals are all tied for that second wild Card slot 5 games over .500, while the Pirates are 1.5 out. The closest team under .500 is the Marlins at 4.5 games off the pace. If this holds, six teams are in play for this slot, three each from the NL Central and NL East.

When we awake September 29 and the season is at its likely conclusion, will these standings look similar to today? Which team stumbles and gives away its position on top? Does a team that is struggling get red hot and become the second half surprise? Stay tuned for what is coming over the next 13 weeks of the season.

Here are the boxscores for the games simulated Sunday morning December 15. Three simulations are done each day, final regular season simulations scheduled for February 11. Not all teams will play all three sessions each day, think of it like any real life form of baseball schedule.

Highlights from the morning games on December 15, a White Sox grand slam, a Red Sox player hits 3 homers, and a Padres starter throws 8 innings of no-hit ball.

The second version of a fun baseball simulated league which I had previously written about will begin Sunday December 15. Using http://www.whatifsports.com, a roster was created for each of the 30 teams using players from 1901 to 2013. Each player chosen was used based on his statistical profile as compiled for his given franchise over one season. Players who played on more than one team in the big leagues in the same season were assigned to the team that generally had their better performance, particularly in the case of pitchers. Players who were on more than one team used only their team stats while with the chosen club. For example, Rick Sutcliffe on the Cubs roster from 1984 is only having his Cubs portion of his 1984 performance history, not his combined profile earned with both Chicago and the Cleveland Indians used in the league. Each player is only used once for his career. So players who had different seasons with different ball clubs, Luis Gonzales, Nolan Ryan, Catfish Hunter, and many others could have in theory been on multiple rosters given their different season by season history. In most cases, the player was assigned to the team he was on for his best season.

The whatifsports site sets a salary value for every player in the database and each season has a different value based on performance, defensive ability, and the number of innings pitched or plate appearances. The number of turns at bat and innings thrown impact how much the player can be used because of a fatigue factor that is built into the WIS simulation engine.

The league format is a balanced schedule like that used from 1998-2000 and the division alignment is like that of MLB from 1998-2012, but the teams have been realigned for this league based on a geography theme. The division alignment is as follows: NL East (Rangers, Astros, Braves, Marlins, Rays), NL Central (Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Orioles, Nationals, Phillies), NL West (Giants, Athletics, Dodgers, Angels, Padres), AL East (Pirates, Tigers, Indians, Reds, Blue Jays), AL Central (Cardinals, Royals, Rockies, Mariners, Diamondbacks), and AL West (Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins).

Players who were on franchises that relocated are naturally eligible for this league. NO Seattle Pilot made the Brewers roster, but the following teams have players from days gone by in another city: Oakland Athletics from Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics, Texas Rangers from Washington Senators (1961-1971), Minnesota Twins from Washington Senators (1901-1960), Baltimore Orioles from St. Louis Browns, San Francisco Giants from New York Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers from Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins, Atlanta Braves from Boston/Milwaukee Braves, and the Washington Nationals from the Montreal Expos.

All teams use a DH because of this special alignment. Most teams have no unusual lineup situations, though a few noteworthy changes are in place. The Red Sox, Nationals, Angels, Pirates and Marlins feature an outfielder at first base. The Red Sox have a second shortstop playing at second base, while the Diamondbacks and Twins feature another shortstop at third base. The Brewers feature a player who is able to play short and second, but both those positions were taken by better defenders, so Milwaukee features a fifth infielder playing as a regular starting outfielder. IN all these examples accept for the Marlins, the player never played at the position where they have been moved too, but they are headed in the proper direction on the defensive hierarchy chart, meaning an outfielder is going to be relatively reliable at first base, but a first baseman who did not play outfield is not going to be a reliable defender at such a position. For the same reason, shortstops will be fine at third or second, but moving a player from second or third over to short would not be a good idea if the player had no experience at shortstop, while the same logic holds for the Brewers middle infielder playing outfield. The Marlin outfielder assigned to first base did play the position. The Blue Jays have an outfielder at third base, but here is a situation where the player did spend time at third and played very well defensively. The Rays have the same situation only the outfielder is playing at second base and the White Sox feature a pair of powerful first baseman, one who also played third and has been assigned that position.

All teams have four bench players who combined can back up the starters at all positions. When reading the roster, players primary positions only are listed, which does not take into account the secondary positions that they appeared at in a given season. The Mariners have a pair of primary designated hitters, but the cheaper player on the bench also plays first and the outfield. When playing in a simulated league, a * indicates a primary position for a given player, while all secondary positions that a given player appeared at during the season are indicated with the ^ sign. While these designations are not seen below on the roster list copied from the WIS league management center, you do see these options when on the manager page for the roster of the given team.

All teams have five pitchers in a rotation and seven assigned relief pitchers, though some rosters will feature one or more starters who threw limited innings in real life and thus they are placed in relief assignments. All rosters have a pitcher designated as the closer and all teams have at least three pitchers in the setup role and at least one in a long relief role, most have two. Some but not all teams have a pitcher set to a mop-up assignment. Most teams will have three setup, two long relief, and one mop-up pitcher in addition to the closer, but this will be different from team to team, with a fourth setup pitcher or a third long man if no mop-up role is in place, or one long man, one mop-up, and four setup roles in a couple of instances.

In the original league that I ran from May to July of 2013, the actual 1998-2012 alignment was used, different of course from this new league. The salary cap of $200 million meant all rosters could be loaded with the best of the best player seasons in a team’s history, giving a huge advantage to teams with great historic performance and longevity, the Cubs, Giants, Red Sox, and Yankees in particular. The Dh was only used by AL teams. As mentioned before, the DH is used for all teams in this league and the salary cap has been reduced to $135 million. Most teams are very near this cap, though a few teams in the expansion era and the 1990’s expansion teams in particular fall well below this mark.

Below is the complete list of players on all 30 rosters, showing their season, primary role in real life that season, and the salary value calculated by the formula used at WIS.

Meta

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